It's 2022 and I've just gotten to this story point and having this exact issue, on that exact line with Joko - "I do need your army, but I don't need you."
Going to try running around and lowering framerate and going straight up to the portal to see if it works. Will edit this post if it does.
Edit: It worked - lower to 30fps, spammed all my f1 skills as guardian and walked up the portal early.